Parliament of the Maldives has approved the inquiry report on the India Out campaign with 32 members voting in favour.
Parliamentary Committee on National Security Services conducted an inquiry into the effects of the India Out campaign led by the opposition following a request by Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed. The committee has written down 24 findings in its report, which took into account the statements taken from heads of national security services and state institutions. It recommended the relevant authorities make legal changes if national security services and state institutions are being legally constrained from stopping the India Out campaign.
The report cited the Ministry of Home Affairs as stating that social media accounts have been making threats and calling for violence in the name of the India Out campaign and that the negative consequences of these actions will be faced by ordinary citizens who travel to India for medical treatment or those who are currently residing in the neighbouring country.
Additionally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated the campaign threatens public peace and security and that its activities are directly harming citizens. The report also cited the Maldives Police Service (MPS) as stating that some of the participants of the campaign have criminal records and that their involvement increases the likelihood of the activities escalating into violence. Furthermore, the Ministry of Defence warned the committee that the India Out campaign threatens national security and the safety of Indian and Maldivian nationals residing in either country.
The committee stated that it has taken statements from all relevant institutions and determined that the India Out campaign threatens the country’s security, economy, and diplomatic relations with other countries. Therefore, the committee recommends the relevant authorities to stop the campaign and propose the necessary legal amendments in the Parliament, if the authorities are not able to act due to legal constraints.
The Parliament’s approval of the report comes at a time when the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) revealed that it has sent a bill to the President’s Office to make it a crime to conduct activities that harm the diplomatic relations established by the Maldives. The AGO stated that the bill proposes to specify such actions as its own type of crime.